I hope Istomin - I have been following him closely all week, fancied him to go far (even had a little bet on him pre tournament!). I think Raonic is a strong favourite and tbh the match is probably more on his racket. But Istomin can play very aggressively and i think he returns serve quite well and can take time away from raonic. I think Istomin is the better player in terms of groundstrokes when you take into account the forehand, backhand, and movement, but very obviously raonic is better serving and is ranked higher. Istomin needs to look after his own serve EVERY time, be aggressive, and go for it on the raonic serve if possible.
Hoping Denis can take his first title - he seems a really nice unassuming guy and is relishing the underdog role!

I hope Istomin - I have been following him closely all week, fancied him to go far (even had a little bet on him pre tournament!). I think Raonic is a strong favourite and tbh the match is probably more on his racket. But Istomin can play very aggressively and i think he returns serve quite well and can take time away from raonic. I think Istomin is the better player in terms of groundstrokes when you take into account the forehand, backhand, and movement, but very obviously raonic is better serving and is ranked higher. Istomin needs to look after his own serve EVERY time, be aggressive, and go for it on the raonic serve if possible.
Hoping Denis can take his first title - he seems a really nice unassuming guy and is relishing the underdog role!

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Istomin played great -- really fearless tennis. Hope to see him get more good results.

I continue to be distracted by the many, many empty seats in that hockey arena, which is poorly suited to tennis. Raonic supposedly has many fans, but they ain't showing up to the matches.

Anyway, I thought Milos was headed straight for the top 10 after a similar display last year. With Justin gushing his usual nonsense, it looks like the hype machine will continue. All based on a fast indoor court with a poor field in a 250.

I continue to be distracted by the many, many empty seats in that hockey arena, which is poorly suited to tennis. Raonic supposedly has many fans, but they ain't showing up to the matches.

Anyway, I thought Milos was headed straight for the top 10 after a similar display last year. With Justin gushing his usual nonsense, it looks like the hype machine will continue. All based on a fast indoor court with a poor field in a 250.

Will this really be Milos' big year?

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Why so passive agressive? Sure he had a lot of hype last year and didn't deliver, but you can't deny that he had some bad luck with that injury at Wimbledon. And why would some hype now be unjustified? Winning a title already at Chennai and defending a title convincingly are pretty decent results from a guy coming off a fairly serious injury only months ago

Anyway, I thought Milos was headed straight for the top 10 after a similar display last year. With Justin gushing his usual nonsense, it looks like the hype machine will continue. All based on a fast indoor court with a poor field in a 250.

Will this really be Milos' big year?

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It's interesting that Raonic, still ranked world #32, now has 3 ATP titles to his name whilst the world #9, Tipsarevic still only has 2!

I continue to be distracted by the many, many empty seats in that hockey arena, which is poorly suited to tennis. Raonic supposedly has many fans, but they ain't showing up to the matches.

Anyway, I thought Milos was headed straight for the top 10 after a similar display last year. With Justin gushing his usual nonsense, it looks like the hype machine will continue. All based on a fast indoor court with a poor field in a 250.

Will this really be Milos' big year?

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Why would fans in California show up for a final between a Canadian and a Kazbekistanian??? No American players involved. That should answer your question.

was any match shown on bloody Canadian TV or sites?
how about next week?
they are gushing about him, not doing anything

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they've been showing San Jose on Sportsnet One since the QFs in HD. It's been great. The only problem is that it's not shown on their guide. They picked up every single Raonic match. Find out when he plays and tune into SN1 and you'll catch it. I think they're doing this on the fly so the guide might say "classic hockey" or w/e is scheduled to be on at the time. They'll probably be doing this with Memphis too so don't miss it.

It's interesting that Raonic, still ranked world #32, now has 3 ATP titles to his name whilst the world #9, Tipsarevic still only has 2!

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not really. Milos missed 1/2 of last year. After Memphis he has almost no points to defend. Imagine 9 months of nothing but gravy. There's a real shot he might finish the year inside the top 10 without struggling too hard. Top 15 without breaking a sweat. The only caveat is him staying healthy and injury free.

I continue to be distracted by the many, many empty seats in that hockey arena, which is poorly suited to tennis. Raonic supposedly has many fans, but they ain't showing up to the matches.

Anyway, I thought Milos was headed straight for the top 10 after a similar display last year. With Justin gushing his usual nonsense, it looks like the hype machine will continue. All based on a fast indoor court with a poor field in a 250.

Will this really be Milos' big year?

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you must have missed the small fact that he missed 6 months in 2011 due to injury. You must have also missed the fact that in 2 months he's won 2 titles already. Empty seats? The crowd looked absolutely standard for an ATP 250 event. If anything there were more people than usual. The only time you're going to get a packed out at a 250 event is if someone like Federer is playing.

they've been showing San Jose on Sportsnet One since the QFs in HD. It's been great. The only problem is that it's not shown on their guide. They picked up every single Raonic match. Find out when he plays and tune into SN1 and you'll catch it. I think they're doing this on the fly so the guide might say "classic hockey" or w/e is scheduled to be on at the time. They'll probably be doing this with Memphis too so don't miss it.

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Sportsnet One is not shown in Montreal and I am going for the sites anyway.

Sportsnet One is not shown in Montreal and I am going for the sites anyway.

Why the heck don't tsn.ca and sportsnet.ca show his matches?

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Even though the proliferation of high speed broadband in Canada per capita is the highest in the world, Canadian online websites are like 40 years behind US ones so don’t hold your breath for some sort of Canadian version of ESPN3. Will never happen. Nothing like having a 250mb/s zero cap internet connection with nothing to use it on.

was any match shown on bloody Canadian TV or sites?
how about next week?
they are gushing about him, not doing anything

I hope Raonic will get the first prize in Memphis: lots of cash

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It seems that sportsnet doesn;t have livestream anymore, only on sportsnet 1 that you pay for and have to have digital TV. Unfortunately most Canadians like only hockey and that's what brings in the advertisers and $.

Even though the proliferation of high speed broadband in Canada per capita is the highest in the world, Canadian online websites are like 40 years behind US ones so don’t hold your breath for some sort of Canadian version of ESPN3. Will never happen. Nothing like having a 250mb/s zero cap internet connection with nothing to use it on.

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I don't agree. They showed some matches and the quality was good. So the problem is willingness.

Sportsnet One is not shown in Montreal and I am going for the sites anyway.

Why the heck don't tsn.ca and sportsnet.ca show his matches?

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TSN hasn't paid for the rights and sportsnet 1 has the rights ro show it and you have to suscribe to it. It's all about $. And most Cananadians want hockey and golf. They must really hate it when the slams are shown on TSN.

Fortunately there are streams.

10 years ago there was nothiing except the scoreboard so we shouldn't complain

It seems that sportsnet doesn;t have livestream anymore, only on sportsnet 1 that you pay for and have to have digital TV. Unfortunately most Canadians like only hockey and that's what brings in the advertisers and $.

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sportsnet is trash. Should've let TSN keep the ATP broadcasting rights. At least they actually freee up some time slots for them. Sportsnet doesn't even do that, they're relegated to online streaming with meh quality.

Why would fans in California show up for a final between a Canadian and a Kazbekistanian??? No American players involved. That should answer your question.

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LOL, under this theory it's amazing that most main tour ATP & WTA matches worldwide get any spectators at all, since most of them will feature those pesky foreigners.

Putting aside this silly statement, I will try to get to the bottom of San Jose's problem. The stadium sucks, the tickets are too expensive and the field isn't very good. It's also pretty close (in time and geographically) to Indian Wells, which kicks its rear end in every respect.

Thank goodness for SAP's sponsorship, or I would be worried about this tournament.

they've been showing San Jose on Sportsnet One since the QFs in HD. It's been great. The only problem is that it's not shown on their guide. They picked up every single Raonic match. Find out when he plays and tune into SN1 and you'll catch it. I think they're doing this on the fly so the guide might say "classic hockey" or w/e is scheduled to be on at the time. They'll probably be doing this with Memphis too so don't miss it.

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I don't have digital but I get Sportsnet One but they weren't showing Raonic's matches out west in the Pacific region. I checked because they've shown his matches before even though they weren't on the schedule but no luck this week. Hopefully I'll be able to see his Memphis matches.

Good win for him today. He was solid and played well and he even cracked a small smile when he won. I know you have to be focused while you're playing but a little bit of emotion from him would get tennis fans more involved and excited about him.

LOL, under this theory it's amazing that most main tour ATP & WTA matches worldwide get any spectators at all, since most of them will feature those pesky foreigners.

Putting aside this silly statement, I will try to get to the bottom of San Jose's problem. The stadium sucks, the tickets are too expensive and the field isn't very good. It's also pretty close (in time and geographically) to Indian Wells, which kicks its rear end in every respect.

Thank goodness for SAP's sponsorship, or I would be worried about this tournament.

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is this your first year watching tennis? The crowd was STANDARD for any 250 event. Second of all, the WTA gets zero spectators and the arenas are pretty much empty unless a major star is playing or it's a tournament that's joined with the ATP. They function exclusively off of TV deals and sponsorships. As for the field, it's was just fine.

I don't have digital but I get Sportsnet One but they weren't showing Raonic's matches out west in the Pacific region. I checked because they've shown his matches before even though they weren't on the schedule but no luck this week. Hopefully I'll be able to see his Memphis matches.

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i'm out west too. There's SN West, East and One. West and East didn't show it, only SN One showed it. And it wasn't just the final either. They showed every Raonic match in San Jose

sportsnet is trash. Should've let TSN keep the ATP broadcasting rights. At least they actually freee up some time slots for them. Sportsnet doesn't even do that, they're relegated to online streaming with meh quality.

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TSN has never shown anything less than Masters 1000 ATP tournaments, and even those are rare. They didn't want the ATP 500s and 250s. I'm just thankful Sportsnet has filled in the void.

TSN has never shown anything less than Masters 1000 ATP tournaments, and even those are rare. They didn't want the ATP 500s and 250s. I'm just thankful Sportsnet has filled in the void.

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TSN showed every Masters 1000, some of the WTF matches and all the slams. The only thing that they could possibly be faulted for is not picking up any of the 250s, 500s or Davis Cup.

Sportsnet's coverage on the other hand is spotty at best. They don't show any of the Masters (besides Rogers Cup), 250s or 500s on their default broadcast but instead on their premier Sportsnet One channel. Sure they boradcast some tournaments on Sportsnet Live, but the quality is meh at best and coverage online is already spotty. Sportsnet bought the rights to broadcast ATP matches so that they could force tennis fans to subscribe to their lousy Premier Sportsnet One channel while they give the scraps to their flagship channel and online.